With the provincial election fast approaching, Environment Minister Laurel Broten isn't winning popularity contests with some Etobicoke neighbours over family plans for an elaborate, two-storey garage.

Environment Minister Laurel Broten's plan to build a garage was challenged at the Ontario Municipal Board.

By:Rob FergusonQueen's Park Bureau, Published on Thu Jun 28 2007

There's trouble brewing in Laurel Broten's backyard.

With the Oct. 10 provincial election fast approaching, the environment minister and mother of 20-month-old twin boys isn't winning popularity contests with some Etobicoke neighbours over family plans for an elaborate, two-storey garage with a lift to house one of their four vehicles, baby gear and bikes.

Five residents say the garage is too big, out of character for the area and threatens a mature tree that straddles another property. They're challenging the project at an Ontario Municipal Board hearing on Tuesday in hopes it can be downsized.

"Instead of looking at trees I'm going to be looking at this gargantuan garage," says Robbie Robinson, a retired architect who lives behind Broten and her lawyer-businessman husband, Paul Laberge, in a south Etobicoke enclave just metres from Lake Ontario.

"I don't think the neighbours are going to vote for her at all."

He described the garage as having 14-foot (4.2-metre) walls rising to a roof peak 19 feet (5.7 metres) high – about seven feet (2.1 metres) higher than bylaws allow. But the couple won approval for it from the local committee of adjustment by getting a minor variance in March.

Robinson acknowledges he's been squabbling with Broten's husband since the couple put an above-ground pool in their backyard two summers ago, changing drainage patterns that result in his backyard flooding during heavy rains.

Broten maintains that the plans for the garage – supported by at least one nearby resident – were drawn up with an eye to "build around" a 14-metre-tall tree.

"It provides a great deal of shade in our yard," she said. "And I am a big fan of working to protect trees. It's one of the reasons we bought that house."

Another neighbour scoffs at the claim the tree will survive, given that accidents can happen during construction.

"It (the garage) is going to be about an inch from the tree," said John Sullivan, who added he witnessed Laberge shouting at Robinson about the OMB challenge a few weeks ago.

"He (Laberge) said, `I hope you have lots of money, I hope you have a lawyer.' I was shocked," said Sullivan. "It's a shame. When stuff like this happens, the people need to get together. The minute you involve lawyers, you're asking for trouble."

Laberge could not be reached for comment despite attempts to reach him through Broten's office.

Broten said she had little to do with the garage and defended the size of the proposed building.

"It's a single car footprint with a lift to accommodate one car and a bunch of strollers and bikes ... you can only imagine ... how much stuff twins come with."

The squabble with neighbours has raised eyebrows at Queen's Park, where no quarter is expected or given with the election coming.

"I saw the famous stroller on Saturday at an event, where the two very cute little boys were in the stroller, but there was nothing about that stroller that struck me as requiring a 19-foot garage to house it," quipped Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory.

The fact that the environment minister's family of four has four vehicles – a Ford Escape hybrid, a low-emissions Volvo SUV, a Mercedes and a Porsche – did not escape the attention of NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns.

"It seems like a lot," said the MPP for Toronto-Danforth.

"I don't think she practises what she preaches when it comes to the environment."

Broten made no apologies for her husband's car collection, describing him as a mining town boy made good in the big city.

"When you're a young guy that grows up in Sudbury and you're the first guy in your family not to work underground, once you're successful you have dreams of having a couple of cars and you can afford them, you buy them."

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.